2021-12-20
Happy Holidays 2021!
The PixelatedArcade 2021 End of Year Roundup
It's hard to believe, but another year is just about wrapped up! That means it's time for another end-of-year roundup as seems
to be the tradition - essentially just a quick note to say thanks for checking in and hope you enjoy seeing all of the
vintage games, both the good and bad ones. Overall 2021 seems like it may have been a slow year for adding new games, scans, screenshots, and more to the
site, but it's been busy nonetheless. A big chunk of time was taken up by my
Silpheed project, an attempt to envision what that game might have looked
like had there been an arcade version. Other cabinets and props were built along with that as well. It's not always
immediately obvious, but several updates
to the PixelatedArcade codebase were completed as well in order to improve features, resolve bugs, and to overall make administration
of the site easier...
2021-12-03
Silpheed: The Arcade Game (Sort Of!)
Re-Imagining a Classic in a New Format and Behind the Scenes
Have you ever wondered what Silpheed might have looked like had there been
an arcade version of it? Most likely the answer is no; Still, I thought why not find out? It seemed to me
like a natural candidate; the gameplay is arcade-like, the controls are simple enough to be picked up quickly,
unless you're good a game only takes a few minutes, and the game even has a demo resembling an arcade
game's “attract mode”; not at all unlike many arcade shooters! So,
I embarked on a project to not only imagine what such a beast might look like but to actually build a complete,
actual size, playable cabinet. Here are some photos and an overview of the final results...
2021-10-24
Authentic, or Fake?
Identifying Big Box Computer Game Shrink-Wrap
Are you into collecting vintage computer games? If you're here, there's a good chance you are! As prices continue to rise
for games that are still in their original shrink-wrap, being able to reasonably spot games that are, in fact, not
in the original manufacturer's shrink-wrap and were done by the seller or someone else along the line can save you
a lot of money and frustration. So, how can you tell? Fortunately, there are often signs to look for!
Classic PC game guru Trixter has put together
an incredible video explaining how. I highly recommend checking out his YouTube video
Authentic, or fake? Identifying Big Box Computer Game Shrink-wrap
to learn more. The information has been thoroughly researched and not only explains how to identify legitimate shrink-wrap
but includes plenty of background and historical information
as well; check out the video description which includes chapter stop details if you don't have time for the full
video and want to jump around. This is yet another invaluable classic gaming resource following his
IBM PCjr Print Media Archival Project.
2021-09-11
Dragon Con 2021 Photoset
Cosplay Photos from This Year's Dragon Con and Interesting Stuff
It's been a busy summer here, and now heading into the fall we're keeping equally occupied. Not really a gaming related
update this month, however for those interested this past week we returned from Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA and my
photoset from the event is now up at
PixelatedImages. Dragon Con
is always a wonderful time, and after last year being cancelled due the pandemic it was truly great to be out and photographing
again. In the meantime, a stack of games has been piling up here that needs to be scanned and uploaded...
2021-07-14
Welcome to Xenon
The Sounds of an Early Solid State Pinball Game
Released in 1980, Bally's Xenon broke new ground for pinball. Electro Mechanical
machines were on the way out with the last EM game having been released just a year prior; Solid State became the new normal
for pinball with hardware that allowed for more complex games, synthesized and/or digitized sounds, and an array of other features. Xenon was not the first
solid state machine or the first with digitized voices, however it was the first to feature female voices. All of the music, sounds, and voices in the game
were developed and recorded by synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani, and now you can hear her original recordings! A mini-album
was recently released on Suzanne Ciani's Bandcamp page featuring all of the vocals, music, and
sound effects she recorded during development of the game in their isolated form.
This is a rare and fascinating look behind the scenes of a classic pinball game and is worth checking out...
2021-05-31
Introducing PixelatedArcade.gay
Fun Styles and Support for the LGBTQ Community
Greetings classic gamers! Just a quick update here; to celebrate pride month this year, PixelatedArcade would like
to welcome you to check out
pixelatedarcade.gay! The information is the same,
but to show support for the LGBTQ community and just for some fun a few minor color and style changes are visible
throughout the site; I had originally intended to
add a little more, but time ran out. Also, 20% of all new registration revenue is donated to
benefit LGBTQ nonprofit groups. Find out more at
what is .gay?.
2021-04-26
The IBM PCjr Print Media Archival Project
An Impressive Collection of Vintage IBM PCjr Resources
Code named "Peanut", The IBM PCjr was an odd creation; it's new 16 colors graphics
and 3-voice sounds could have made it a spectacular PC for games but, unfortunately, it was a market failure.
There were a number of reasons for this; some quirks made it not quite 100% IBM PC compatible,
an odd expansion system utilized sidecars and not IBM PC style ISA cards, at launch time the included
keyboard was a hideous chiclet style one, the price was considered high for a home computer, and more all made for a machine
that never took the market by storm...
2021-02-19
February 2021 Updates
New Code Updates and Ice Storms
This past week has been a cold one in many parts of North America. Luckily, losing power hasn't been an issue for us however
some planned travel had to be cancelled due to iced over roads described by one of the locals as “nearly undrivable”.
Lacking the proper equipment for such conditions, it was instead time to take advantage of the time off from work and
complete some code updates and fixes! The latest changes
to the PixelatedArcade codebase have just been pushed live...